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In one of my college lessons, its states that typography refers to mechanically-reproduced letters while calligraphy refers to hand-rendered letters. I wondered if this is technically correct, despite the general use of the word "typography" to refer to the study and use of letterforms?

It's correct. Typography is the arrangement of pre-made pieces, whereas calligraphy always involves creating something new that didn't exist before (even the pieces).

calligraphy always involves creating something new that didn't exist before

Are you sure about this? Should it be totally new?

I guess my use of the word "new" is pretty ambiguous here. I mean a calligrapher creates a new physical object, not arranging old pieces to make a new object. Even though I guess you could say that the calligraphers style doesn't have to be new. Hmmm, this is actually harder to explain than I thought it was. Somebody help me out here?